Photo of Cultural Palace concert hall by Estee Pummel
By Rick Pummel
Received Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 1:31 p.m. Pacific
The concert tonight was a phenomenal experience! The Cultural Palace is "one of the great concert halls of Europe," to quote what Lou told us today in his pep talk before the concert. Most members of the orchestra were local professionals hired for the performance. They were WONDERFUL. We even had a harp accompany us on “Blessed is the Nation.”
I looked over during the concert to see Levis Dragulin playing a new black trumpet, which he picked up in town (Targu Mures) today.
Estee (Rick’s wife) picked up a new pair of concert shoes for me today, made in Italy. The soles of the shoes I brought with me started falling off a couple days ago, in great chunks!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Cultural Palace concert experience
Transylvanian audience shows appreciation
Pictured: Tuesday evening's concert was held in the Palace of Culture in Targu Mures, in the region of Transylvania. The pipe organ has more 4663 tubes.
By Denny Nutter
Received by Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:24 p.m. Pacific
Tuesday, April 21
Tuesday morning provided the first opportunity to sleep in a bit and an optional trip to downtown Targu Mures to visit cathedrals, monuments, and the beautiful plaza in front of the Cultural Palace where we were to sing tonight. (More about the Cultural Palace here.) After a trip back to the Apollo Hotel for rehearsal and lunch, we re-boarded the bus in concert attire and headed back to the Cultural Palace which is one of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls.
What an awesome place to sing! Tonight’s accompanists included Targu Mures’ Symphony Orchestra and brass, a harpist, and one of our Romania chorus brothers playing the pan pipes. Virginia Oliver was able to tickle the keys of the grand organ far better than the usual electronic keyboard or organ – the majestic Cultural Palace pipe organ! The Symphony Maestro was in attendance and seemed to greatly enjoy the program.
Poor Lou probably wondered what he had gotten himself into during the rehearsal immediately preceding the concert. We had fewer Romanian men with us, voices were wearing out, and a frustrating lack of attention, or faces buried in the music instead of watching the conductor. Zach Parks asked the Romanian Chorus member next to him if he was feeling OK and he replied that he was but that he was in prayer for the concert. I’m sure many of us were, at that point as well.
After some serious reminders of what a bunch of amateurs were attempting but privileged to do this evening, the Holy Spirit took over and blessed us with what perhaps has been the best concert to date. The crowd was very receptive and responsive as hearts were touched.
Probably the most memorable moment in the concert came when Lou Wildman gave his introduction to “Deep River,” talking about the dark period of slavery in America’s history and the spirituals that came out of that period. He explained that not only was this piece of music descriptive of the slaves’ longing for heaven but for freedom from bondage in this life as well. He told of watching thousands of Romanians pour out into their streets to reclaim their freedom some twenty years ago as he watched on TV. Many nodded their heads remembering that time. “Tonight,” he said, “not only am I proud to be an American, but I am proud to be in Romania, and I salute you.”
After a moving rendition of “Deep River,” the audience applauded and applauded and then began to rhythmically applaud signaling that they wanted more and our concert wasn’t even over yet!
“The Four Hymns of the Second Coming” was also very well received and brought more rhythmic clapping. After the usual recognitions, gifts, flowers, and expressions of appreciation; the concert ended with a rousing rendition of “Soldiers of the Captain” – the first verse in Romanian, second verse in English, and the third verse sung simultaneously in Romanian and English.
Thank you, Jesus, for not only blessing the audience tonight but both men’s choruses as well!
Unplanned lunch stop brings blessings
Received by Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:24 p.m. Pacific
Monday, April 20
The Lord has certainly blessed us with wonderful weather on this trip. Many of the places we performed or ate at would have been most difficult with inclement weather.
What an awesome day our trip planners arranged for on Monday. A sack breakfast was loaded on one of the buses as we departed Botosani. We stopped for breakfast at the Suceava Fortress built at the end of the 14th century and later modified several times by Alexand cel Bun (1400-1432) and Stephen the Great of Moldova (1457-1504). The group had a great time exploring the ancient fortress and singing in front of the ancient chapel.
The next stop was at the Monastery at Voronet also built in the 1400’s. It was covered in artwork tracing Old Testament history, the life of Christ and the final judgment. A local nun gave the history of the Monastery and described what the paintings depicted. Alin translated for her. When the nun’s tour was over we sang “Soldiers of the Captain” while other tourists looked on and applauded when we were done.
A very moving experience took place when we stopped for lunch at one of our SDA churches on the eastern slope (a different spot than originally planned). After a wonderful lunch and fellowship we slipped into the sanctuary to sing for the ladies who had worked so hard to prepare our meal.
One of the local church members who had enjoyed practicing his English during lunch insisted that we sing “Amazing Grace” before we sang anything else. There were not many dry eyes amongst us as the song came to a conclusion. He then went on to explain that this week had been very hard on their church family because the head elder had passed away. His widow was one of the ladies that had prepared the food and was moved to tears many times during the song. We then knew why God had directed us there and cried and hugged some more as we sang “We Have This Hope” with perhaps more meaning than we have ever felt before.
The remainder of the day we enjoyed the gorgeous scenic views from both sides of the alpine mountain range of Northern Romania. High on the ridge we stopped for photo opportunities and souvenir shopping at Hotel Dracula. The evening was spent descending the western slope to our destination of Targu Mures.
